There's no getting around the fact. While previous "golden ages" at the Metropolitan Opera have existed (or have been hyped) because of star singers, the one that's happening now has nothing to do with them. The company's consistently glorious orchestra up-stages the onstage divos and divas night after night, and if that is anti-star rebellion, let's cheer those on the barricades. This isn't to say that about a couple of dozen leading singers on the present roster aren't worth hocking heirlooms to hear and see, but what makes steady attendance consistently worthwhile at the Met is the orchestra that chief conductor James Levine has been working at and polishing since he first joined the company 31 years ago as a twentysomething tyro. After a decade of flexing the orchestra's muscles with non-operatic concerts (three a year) at Carnegie Hall and touring to other cities, Levine now faces a band unequalled for glow, style, and technique by most others in the world and surpassed by none, not even the Philharmonics of Berlin and Vienna. It's true that the Met's early decades, nearly a century ago, boasted the presence of Gustav Mahler and Arturo Toscanini on the podium, but it's only in the last several years that the company's orchestra, whether in the pit or on the concert stage, has been the brightest... More >>>